Closed to John, for H&M

[island_juliet]

Juliet's been on edge, with James' birthday and the holidays coming, it feels like everything is conspiring to make her miserable. All the stupid holiday romantic comedies with couples reunited, and the plans of families getting together. It's all conspired to make her angry. But when she started crying over 'I'll be Home for Christmas' at the

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[yippiekiyaymf]

John, for his part, had been in a mood since the zombie attacks -- at least once the initial elation of surviving had subsided, and the paperwork with all it's hindsight (all the people missing, presumed dead, and how many of those had he killed, and could he have found a way to save them?) had taken it's place.

He knew Juliet was upset, but he didn't know how to help her. He was so deep in his own stuff he had no leverage to lift her out. He was worried that this failing of his, never knowing what the hell to say, having to withdraw emotionally because men don't cry, and they can't just go around punching things, was going to push Juliet away as it had Holly.

He didn't realize how much he expected that to happen until he saw Juliet sitting on the couch, granted it was her room, but she was wearing on of his shirts which was not an 'I'm leaving' gesture, and the sight left him weak-kneed with relief

[island_juliet]

As soon as he walks in, she can tell by the air in the room that something isn't right, that he's hurting somewhere, for some reason, and she puts her book aside when he sits down next to her.

She knows that he's trying to help her, and she's pretty sure it's not fair, the way she expects him to carry her all of the time. Moving close to him, she curls up into his side, knowing inherently that she's needed.

"Hi," she says quietly, resting her head on his chest.

[yippiekiyaymf]

Her action takes him by surprise. He takes in a breath, a painful sounding one, like the one that comes before a sob. No sob comes out; he clenches his throat and teeth around it, closes his eyes tight, wraps his arms around her, and buries his nose in her hair.

[island_juliet]

"It's okay," she says quietly, tenderly kissing his chest. She looks up at him, fingers trailing across his face softly.

"You can let me take care of you, you know."